Day 2: Prevarication, Shivers and Inspiration

Day 2

of the 30-day Meditation Challenge. It didn’t start well.

I’d hoped to start the same way as yesterday, with a leisurely meditation before getting up. But I was foggy-headed and sleep-addled this morning, so in spite of my best efforts, it didn’t really work.

Although… with hindsight, I didn’t lose my cool at all before school. Not at all. Not once. With five children, porridge, packed lunches, toast, last-minute reading practice, and…

Hmmm…

Well that’s food for thought! 🙂

I decided to have another go later on, when my youngest was in bed and the house peaceful. Himself was working in the study and I assumed a comfortable position in the sitting room.

And sent an email or two… and did a bit more work… and realised time was ticking by while I waited for ‘the perfect moment’. With the realisation that I was being ludicrous and it wasn’t going to arrive, I bit the bullet.

Today it was funny. I had to observe my mind a little because it didn’t want to play. It was doing the ‘Sensible Dad’ routine on me: “This is silly. This is never going to work! What do you think you’re doing?” I smiled wryly to myself and just kept putting the puppy back on the mat until the protests had died down and my mind had stilled.

This afternoon, the mantra that came to me unbidden was “Breathing in, I welcome inspiration. Breathing out, I release self-doubt”. And it was a doozy. I suppose I was about 10 or 15 minutes in when I started experiencing what are best described as heat and delicious shivers. I’ve experienced these before, and they usually presage something new and exciting. So my door, my mind and my heart are open and I am eager to learn what is around the corner.

But back to now. I feel peaceful and calm. But before I could start writing this, I had an idea for the work I am doing right now that has crystallised it in such a beautifully clear way that I feel I know where I’m heading with it. Certainly, inspiration took hold. I needed to get that recorded before I could come here and report back.

You know the saying “Be careful what you wish for”? 😉

Suggestion for today: Adapt your mantra to accommodate what you need more of in your life right now.